And much cheaper in real terms, as the Croatian digital nomad residence permit provides an exemption from income tax on earned income.

There are other tax exemptions in Croatia that might still make it worth it - especially in FIRE setting.

While say The Netherlands taxes your investments such as Stocks/ETFs (not their earnings/capital-gain/etc but literally just owning stocks/ETFs/etc) - in Croatia those are not taxed after you've held them for 1 or 2 years (don't recall if 1 or 2).

Similar (owning stocks/ETFs not taxed) in Serbia, Malta, Cyprus ...etc.